Hutu Extremists

The Hutu Extremists are the alleged group behind the assassination of the Rwandan president. They wanted to use the war as a cover so they could carry out their real plans of a total extermination of the Tutsi ethnic group. The Hutu had been repressed for years because of the way the look and the ethnic group they are classified under. The Hutu extremists used the radio to inform the Hutu population of there plans. Everyone that was Hutu either was an extremist or they where are good as the “cockroaches” they were trying to exterminate. After years and years of being repressed they finally thought that is was their time to be on top and the result of this was catastrophic.

The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)

The Rwandan Patriotic Front was created in 1987 in a Tutsi refugee camp in Uganda. The first Tutsis fled to Uganda in 1959 to escape the ethnic cleansing. On October 1^st 1990 the RPF left the Ugandan army and invaded northern Rwanda on a liberation movement. They worked toward Kigali the capital of Rwanda but soon had to turn back so they could help French troops reinforce the Habyarimana regime. They suffered a major set back when Rwigema was killed on the second day of war but they pushed on. The RPA regrouped under Kagame and began a classic insurgency campaign. They finally struck a peace agreement where they signed the Arusha Accords on August 4 1993. Arusha Accord ensured that there was power – sharing in the government.  everything was destroyed when Rwandan president Habyarimana was assassinated on April 6, 1994. By the evening of April 7 1994 the Rwandan Patriotic Front was under attack. The RPF attacked southward toward the capital of Kigali while another force moved clockwise to take control of the countryside. By July 4 1994 the RPF had taken control of Kigali. And by August 21, 1994 the RPF was given complete control of the country 

How We Can Help

During the occurrence of the genocide in 1994, nearly nothing was done to help. The western world sat around trying to define the term "Genocide" while thousands were being slaughtered. Instead of sending in more UN troops to help defuse the situation all the white troops were evacuated leaving only a handful. Romeo Dallaire was one of the few UN peace keepers who remained in Rwanda in order to save the lives of the Tutsi people. Below is the trailer for the movie, Shake Hands With the Devil, based on his work to save the lives of the Tutsi's against the orders of higher commanders he was working under.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaHAXnOGj9k


Movies such as this one bring awareness to the issue that was so blatantly ignored. However, now that the genocide has occurred there are many things that can be done to help those who are still suffering from the atrocities that happened a mere 16 years ago.

Triage is an example of a film about Dr. James Orbinski who worked as a Doctor Without Boarders providing medical care to those who were injured durning the Rwandan genocide. James continues his work to help Rwanda through the writings in his books and the medical assistance he provides the people with upon his trips to Africa.


Since the Rwandan genocide the UN has successfully (and finally) defined the term genocide. (The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.)

The main ways that you can help are:
1. Raise awareness. Although 800,000 people died in an estimated 10 weeks, the genocide in Rwanda is not a topic that is as regularly discussed or commonly known about.
2. Research and join organizations such as;

Survivors Fund Oxfam UNICEF Red Cross Doctors Without Borders CARE Food for the Hungry RCN Justice & Démocratie

The Power of the Radio

(Translation: “What’s happening?” “They killed Habyarimana (Hutu President of Rwanda)” “We ask all our Hutu brothers not to let this crime remain unpunished. Get up. Get to work. Take your tools and eradicate this race of cockroaches. Find them in all the holes…”)

The Hutu extremists used the radio as a means of communicating hate filled messages to the general public. The radio was the best means of communication for the Hutu's because they were relatively cheap, could be shared by many people, and unlike the newspaper could be listened to and understood by those who were illiterate.  By distributing Radios to fellow Hutu's they were able to easily and quickly communicate news. By mixing hate messages in with popular African cultural music the Hutu extremists were able to turn people against their neighbors. The Radio communicated an ultimatum to all Hutu's, either kill all the Tutsi's or either we or they will rise up and kill you. Hutu's were lead to believe through messages on the radio that the Tustsi were evil cockroaches who would trick and manipulate you so they could rise to power and eliminate all Hutu's.

The Genocide Resulted in the Death of 800,000 Tutsi's and Their Supporters.

Rows upon rows of skulls are all that is left to speak for the lives of these people.

Those who weren't killed were left physically and emotionally scarred by the horrors they faced.

It became normal to walk past fields covered in severed bodies and it was as common as a Starbucks in New York City.

The Hutu's and the Tutsi's and Belgium Stereotyping

The Hutu's were the largest of the three groups categorized by the Belgium's. According to statistics collected by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States 84% of Rwandans are Hutu.

The Tutsi's were the second largest group inhabiting Rwanda. They are said to have originated from North Africa as opposed to the Hutu's from sub-saharan Africa. Despite their unsubstantial numbers in comparison to the Hutu's, the Tutsi held control over the Hutu and the smallest group the Twa. This made the government system in Rwanda resemble the Oligarchical system. (Where the few rule the many).

This system of government was put in place by the Belgium colonists. The Belgium's believed that the Tutsi were racially superior to the Twa and the Hutu's because of their more caucasian appearance. This signified to the Belgium's that they were the ones capable of assuming leadership of the country. In order to categorize the Rwanda's the Belgium's formulated a series of tests to determine whether one was Hutu or Tutsi. The Tustsi tended to be leaner, taller, and their skin tones lighter. Hutu's were said to be stalkier with darker skin tones. More specific tests however where conducted in order to properly categorize the two groups. Measurements of the lengths and widths of noses were a huge component of the sorting. Those with wider noses were labeled as Hutu's, those with smaller noses were Tutsi (smaller nose generally meant a more caucasian appearance.)
This picture shows the stereotyping of the three groups perfectly.

Introduction

In 1994 the total Rwandan population was seven million. The country was divided into three ethnic groups, the Hutu who made up eighty five percent of the population, the Tutsi who made up four teen percent and the Twa who only one percent of the total population. Since the early 1990’s the majority Hutu government had been blaming the Tutsi’s of all of Rwanda’s social, economic, and political pressures. 

On April 9, 1994 the Hutu Rwandan president Habyarimana’s plane was shot down. Immediately afterward violence broke out. The Hutu extremests used the radio as a method to brain wash their Hutu listeners. They made the listeners feel comfortable by playing cultural music while they projected there message.  It is estimated that two hundred thousand civilians and militia participated in the mass murder of three quarters the Tutsi population. The war officially ended in 2003 and an estimated eight hundred thousand people where massacred. It is easy to point fingers and blame one group or person but you have to look at both side of the story.